Lenin statue falls in Kharkiv, Ukraine

KHARKIV, Ukraine, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- A large statue of Vladimir Lenin, a founder of the Soviet Union, was torn down during a rally in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

The 65-foot tall statue fell Sunday during a "Kharkiv is Ukraine" rally as 3,000 people attended. Although an order to dismantle the statue was signed by Kharkiv regional governor Ihor Baluta after the group gathered, police ordered an investigation into "vandalism" for "the destruction of or damage to cultural heritage sites and personal property," the Russian television network RT reported.

The statue has been a landmark, and rallying point, in the largely Russian-speaking city, the second-largest in Ukraine and one that has escaped much of the conflict between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists. Demonstrators cheered as the statue fell.

Arsen Avakov, Ukraine interior minister, wrote in a Facebook message, "Let him fall. As long as people don't get hurt. As long as this bloody communist idol does not take more victims with it when it goes."

After the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February, the statue was defended by separatists, but those at the rally regarded it as a victory when it fell. Many statues of Lenin can be found in Ukraine, reminders of the country's Soviet past, but most have been removed since Yanukovych fled the country.